I am going to need these white men in positions of power to grow up. I'm going to need them to stop acting like teenagers whose feelings get hurt on Twitter. I'm going to need them to log off and do their jobs.
To date, the president-elect and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff investigating a murder on a national stage can't stop talking or tweeting about their feelings. Donald Trump's history of being thin-skinned is well documented, but on Tuesday, Sheriff Newell Normand continued his string of odd behavior since the shooting death of former running NFL back Joe McKnight.
According to reports, McKnight and Ronald Gasser, 54 were engaged in some sort of road rage incident that left McKnight dead at the end of Gasser's gun. Gasser waited for police to arrive on the scene, handed over his weapon and was handcuffed and arrested. Where things took a really strange turn was at some point that night, Normand released Gasser and then held a press conference in which he defended not only his decision to release him, but the shooter.
"Mr. Gasser isn't going anywhere," Normand said.
In learning that Gasser may have become a target of violence, a police cruiser was reportedly ordered to sit outside of Gasser's home. That's right, the police were protecting the killer while he sat in his own home less than 24 hours after the killing.
On Tuesday, news stations learned that Gasser had been arrested and charged with manslaughter, not because the police released the information, but because reporters found that Gasser had been booked into the jail's public system. Later Tuesday, Normand held another bizarre press conference in which he read emails that people have sent to public officials since Gasser's release.
"You punk ass Uncle Tom coon, we saw you sell out to them you rat ass faggot punk," Gasser read. "You ass kissing fa—ot that has done little to our community. All we know is that you are a b—ch puppet, you rat a— looking coon on TV; I bet they made you say that puppet boy, I know what I see, I know that Normand is a piece of sh-t and you stood behind that white boy with that bulls—t, nig—. You won't even stand with your people you self serving son of a b—ch."
Let me bring you back up to speed: road rage, 54-year-old white man shoots and kills ex-NFL running back. All the public wants is justice that looks like justice in the form of justice. That if the man who shot and killed someone is arrested, that he be put in jail, have a bail set and then a trial. What the people who want justice have gotten is the release of said killer and two lectures from the man who's supposed to be a catalyst for justice.
As far as the email, I call bulls—t. I know the language was supposed to imply that the letter was written by a black person, in fact when the sheriff was asked why he felt it important to read the letter he devolved into another lecture about black on black crime, but I don't think any black person wrote that. I'm not saying it wasn't sent to an official, but I am saying that I don't think a black person sent it. The flow is off. We don't triple down on our slurs that way. There is a rhythm to our language and this sounds choppy and forced. I'm not saying that the sheriff wrote the note himself and then walked out there to make himself and his colleagues the victim of a murder investigation. I'm saying that it was mad bizarre for the sheriff to read that letter at that time if he wasn't trying to make himself the center of a murder investigation.
Twice now, the public has been chastised for wanting a killer to be brought to justice by the sheriff handling the investigation. Twice now, this oddball, who keeps acting as if hurtful words are stopping him from doing his job, has lectured the public.
This is the Trumpian effect. Leaders no longer have to be above the fray, they are in the fray. And there appears to be a certain joy that a group of Trump voters feel in being openly racist. If the president can hate freely on Twitter then why can't a small backwoods sheriff turn a murder investigation press conference into a national dressing down. Maybe I missed the part where the sheriff has called for justice for McKnight. Maybe I missed the part where the sheriff has talked about making everyone in the community feel safe. So far we have two times where the sheriff has gotten into his feelings.
At this point, I can only give this dumba— sherrif and the dumba— president-elect a word of advice, we don't need your lectures or your leadership, but we do need you to do your job.
And if being on Twitter or email is too difficult for your little fragile feelings then log the f—k off.